Collapsible barricade



1964 R. M. WICKHAM ETAL 3,145,766

COLLAPSIBLE BARRICADE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 4, 1961 H 4 w a bEHHHMHHHKE i Z g F m INVENTORS PAY M. WIC/(HHM Ens/ale W BLEAMJR BY /d%/416M ATTORNEY 25, 1954 R. M. WICKHAM ETAL 3,145,766

COLLAPSIBLE BARRICADE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 4, 1961 INVENTORS RAYM. W/CKHAM BY EDGAR W BLEA/YLJP. W

United States Patent Filed May 4, 1961, Ser. No. 107,678 7 Claims. (Cl.160135) This invention relates to portable collapsible barricades foruse outdoors or indoors, and either for emergency or permanent use.

More specifically the invention relates to a portable lazy tongs orscissors type of collapsible barricade.

It is an object of this invention to provide a barricade of this type,which if desired can be used as a fence to enclose an area.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a barricade withjointed sections so that the barricade may be angled across a passagewayor about an area and yet be well supported not only at its ends but alsoat the joint or joints between the sections.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a barricade ofa multiplicity of sections with leg supports between sections, the legsupports forming pivots for the sections.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide for firm end legsupport for the barricade, independently of the expanded or collapsedcondition of the barricade.

Other objects of the invention are to provide extensions on some of thebars of the lazy tongs to assist in handling of the barricade, and toprovide supports on the barricade to support signal lamps, flags and thelike.

Still other objects of the invention will become apparent afterconsideration of the following specification when taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a barricade in accordance with theinvention, parts being sectioned to better illustrate the constructionof the barricade;

FIG. 2 is an end view of the barricade, with hidden parts shown indotted lines;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged detail view of the upper portion of FIG. 2, partsbeing in section;

FIG. 4 is a section on the line 4--4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5, on an enlarged scale, is a section on the line 5-5 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7, on an enlarged scale, is a section on the line 77 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8' is a vertical elevation of a modified barricade with partsbroken away to indicate that additional crossbars and intermediate legsmay be provided, and

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating how a pair of barricades may beutilized to form a fence or guard around an open manhole.

Now referring to the drawings in greater detail, the bar ricade, ingeneral, comprises a number of bars 10, which may be channel irons,pivoted together intermediate their ends as at 12 and at their upper andlower ends as at 14 and 16 to form a lazy tongs arrangement. The pivots12, 14, and 16 may each be bolts and nuts and associated washers tofacilitate assembly and disassembly of the barricade. It is contemplatedthat any suitable form of pivot may be used and that the lazy tongsarrangement may be secured by quick acting fasteners or other means andthat in place of spacing washers positioned around the pivots betweenthe bars 10, a boss on at least one of the arms may be utilized.

The barricade shown in FIG. 1 is in two sections, each section beingpivotally mounted on a swivel or pivot rod 18, the rod 18 beingelongated downwardly and there forming a lower integral leg extension20, so that the sections, if desired, can be swung about thelongitudinal axis of the rod and the rod may support adjacent sectionsof' the barricade. Each of the ends of the sections remote from the rodis supported by a pair of tubular legs 22 which can be angled apart ortoward each other. The lower ends of the legs 22 may be capped withrubber or plastic feet 23, should the barricade be used in places whereit is desirable not to mar the supporting surface or floor. When thebarricade is collapsed, or when extended slightly with the sections in acommon plane, the leg extension 20 may be slightly above the supportsurface 24 so as to facilitate elongation of the lazy tongs and avoiddrag of the leg extension on the surface. Also, when the lazy tongs isfully extended, the leg extension 20 may contact the supporting surface.When the sections of lazy tongs are angled with respect to each other,the extension 20 will contact the support surface 24 and afford supportfor the intermediate portions of the barricade.

The upper ends of the bars 10 adjacent the rod 22 are each pivoted by abolt and nut to an angled piece 25, see particularly FIG. 4, which maybe bent out of or welded to a cross plate 26 whose upper end is offsetas at 28 to rigidly support a bracket 30 formed as part of the offsetportion or welded thereto. This bracket may support the pole of aWarning flag or a signal lamp, as may be desired, the bracket for thispurpose being provided with aligned perforations 32 and 34 of variousdiameters. It will be apparent that other forms of brackets or attachingdevices to support warning flags and signal lamps may be employedwithout departing from the scope of this invention.

Each of the cross plates is also provided with bolt and nut pivots 36for the legs 22. To maintain the legs of a pair in fixed spread apartrelationship and to permit collapse of the legs of a pair toward eachother, the following parts are provided. Each leg is provided with aplate, as 38 and 39, fastened to the leg by the pivot bolt 36 and by anadditional bolt and nut 40. Each of the plates has a bayonet slotincluding an arcuate section 42 and a substantially vertical section 44,which vertical sections are in registration when the legs are angledapart the desired angle. A manually operable lock pin 46 rides in theslots and locks the legs in their spread apart condition when in theregistering vertical sections. In the swung together condition of thelegs, slight notches 48 in the arcuate slots, engaged by the pin 46,hold the legs together against accidental separation, the notches,however, not being deep enough to prevent spread of the legs merely bymanually angling them apart. The lock pin is mounted in a channel lockslide 50 slidable on a lazy tongs support rod 52, the pin being urged toengage within the bottoms of the vertical slots 44 or the notches 48 bya spring 54 surrounding the rod and reacting against a washer 56 on therod, the washer abutting a pin 58 transverse to the rod 52 orprojections struck out from the rod. The upper end of the rod 52 ispivotally mounted on a screw bolt 69 passing snugly through the outerplate 38 and fairly loosely through an opening in inner plate 39. Whenthe pin 46 looks in the slots 44, it will be observed, the rod 52 willbe supported against pivotal movement since the pivot for the rod andthe lock pin are displaced from each other longitudinally of the rod.The lower end of rod 52 slidably mounts a slide 61 which may be ofone-piece construction. For convenience in forming the slide, however,it is preferable to make the slide of two identical halves 62 withsemicircular recesses to slidably engage the rod 52, the parts 62 beingwelded to each other where they abut. To reduce the friction between thehalves 62 and the rod, the halves 62 are each provided with spacing nibs64. The slide is pivotally connected to the lower end of an end bar 10by one of the bolt and nut connections 16. In between each of the jointsbetween the bars or between a bar and its associated slide a suitablewasher 66 is utilized to reduce the friction between the parts, orcircular fiat protrusions may be pressed into the bar to providetherebetween washerlike bearing surfaces.

The pivot rod 18 is provided near its upper end with nibs 70 orequivalent means to support a washer 72. A pair of upper angle brackets74 and 76 is pivoted on the pivot rod, which brackets are respectivelybolted by bolts 14 and associated nuts or other means of pivotalfastening to the upper ends of the adjacent bars of the lazy tongssections. To hold the angle brackets in place, the upper end of thepivot rod is surmounted by a sleeve 78 conveniently made hollow toaccommodate the pole of a flag, and the sleeve is held to the pivot rodby a set screw 89, or a driven pin passing through the sleeve 78 andpivot rod 18.

Slidable along and rotatable about the pivot rod is the sleeve 82 aboutwhich is pivoted the lower angle brackets 84 and 86 and to whichbrackets are pivoted, by the bolts 16 or other means of pivotalfastening, the lower ends of adjacent bars 10 of the lazy tongssections. To hold the brackets 84 and 86 in place with respect to thesleeve 82, the sleeve is provided with two grooves 88 within which aresnapped two retaining rings 90.

For convenience in manipulating the barricade, both to extend andretract the lazy tongs and to set the sections to selected angles withrespect to each other, some of the bars 10 may be extended upwardly asindicated at 92 to provide manuals for easy accessibility.

While for sake of light weight, portability, and compact storage, theform of invention disclosed in FIG. 1 may be preferred, should a longerbarricade be desired, extra sections may be interposed between the endsupports of the barricade, as indicated in FIG. 8. These extensions maybe added at will since the connections between bars and other elementsof the barricade are all easily removable and replaceable bolts.

Whether the barricade be made of two or more sections, it may be made toconform to various configurated passageways or areas to be protected. InFIG. 9 there is diagrammatically illustrated a manhole 94 about which isplaced two barricades of the character shown in FIG. 1, each of thebarricades being arranged with its two sections at right angles to eachother. Obviously a foursection unit of the type shown in FIG. 8, may beutilized to serve the same purpose.

In practice, the barricades may be zinc plated to make them weatherresistant or coated with baked enamel, and painted with a reflectivepaint to make them visible at night when in the path of beam of light,as from an automobile headlight.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. A collapsible barricade comprising a multiplicity of pivotallyconnected bars forming lazy tongs sections, means pivoting one of saidsections to an adjacent section to form a desired angle therebetween,and ground engaging supports for each of said sections spaced from thepivoting means, said pivoting means having formed therewith a legsection which in conjunction with the ground engaging supports, in theextended condition of the barricade, maintains the barricade in positionin desired angular relationships between the sections, the lower end ofthe leg section terminating short of a line joining the lower ends ofthe ground engaging supports in the collapsed condition of the lazytongs.

2. A collapsible barricade comprising a multiplicity of pivotallyconnected bars forming lazy tongs sections, means pivotally connectingsaid sections together to permit of angularly relating the sections toeach other, an upper plate for each section to which one of the bars ofthe lazy tongs is pivoted, and end supports at the nonpivoted ends ofthe sections, each end support comprising a pair of legs pivoted attheir upper ends to said plate,

like lock elements connected to each of the legs, and interconnectingmeans between the lock elements to, at will, lock the legs againstcollapse.

3. A collapsible barricade comprising pivotally connected bars forminglazy tongs, an upper plate at each end of the barricade to which a baris pivotally connected, and end supports for the barricade, each of saidend supports comprising a pair of legs whose upper ends are pivoted tosaid plate, each of said legs having a lock plate secured thereto, abayonet slot in each plate and a lock pin movable in both slots, a lockslide supporting the pin, a rod attached at its upper end to said plateslidably supporting the lock slide, spring means reacting between thelock slide and a fixed stop on the rod to urge the lock slide andattached pin to locking position.

4. A collapsible barricade comprising pivotally connected bars forminglazy tongs, an upper plate at each end of the barricade to which a baris pivotally connected, and end supports for the barricade, each of saidend supports comprising a pair of legs whose upper ends are pivoted tosaid plate, each of said legs having a lock plate secured thereto, abayonet slot in each plate and a lock pin movable in both slots, a lockslide supporting the pin, a rod attached at its upper end to said plateslidably supporting the slide, spring means reacting between the lockslide and a fixed stop on the rod to urge the slide to locking position,said rod extending down to substantially the lower level of the lazytongs, and a second slide pivoted to an adjacent bar of the lazy tongsat a free end therof, said second slide embracing the rod to slidetherealong on expansion or collapse of the barricade.

5. A collapsible barricade comprising a multiplicity of pivotallyconnected bars forming lazy tongs sections, means pivoting one of saidsections with respect to another to form any desired angle between thesections, and end supports at the non-pivoted ends of the sections, saidpivoting means having formed therewith a leg section which inconjunction with the end supports, in the extended condition of thebarricade, maintains the barricade in position in desired angularrelationships between the sections, said pivoting means extendingupwardly, each of said sections terminating in an angle bracket threadedin overlapping relationship over the leg section, a stop on the legsection to limit downward movement of the angle brackets on the legsection, and a sleeve on the upward extension of the pivoting meansengaging the topmost angle bracket to hold the sections together attheir upper ends, the sleeve forming a socket for reception of the poleof a flag.

6. A barricade comprising a series of bars pivotally interconnected withone another forming a lazy tongs, the upper ends of each of the end barsof the lazy tongs being connected to a cross plate, a pair of legspivoted to the cross plate, interacting pieces on the legs for assistingin holding the legs in spread out condition, a rod pivoted on theinterconnecting pieces and extending down to below the lower end of theadjacent end bar of the lazy tongs, a slide pivoted to the lower end ofsaid rod adjacent end bar and mounted to slide along said rod, and alatch slidable on the rod away from the pivot of the rod and coactingwith the interacting pieces to lock the legs against pivoting and actingfurther to lock the rod against pivoting on the interconnecting pieces.

7. A collapsible barricade comprising a multiplicity of bars pivotallyconnected together by easily removable pivot bolts forming lazy tongs,each of the end bars at the upper portion of the barricade beingconnected by an easily removable pivot bolt with an angle plate, saidangle plate being integral with a cross plate, a pair of legs pivotallybolted to each of the cross plates, means to lock the legs in spreadapart barricade supporting position comprising a pair of plates eachfastened to a leg, overlapping bayonet slots in said pair of plates, arod depending from the pair of plates, a slide riding on the lower endof each rod and connected by a removable pivot bolt to the adjacent endbar of the lazy tongs, and a spring 684,130 urged latch slidable on therod having a portion engage- 2,892,492

able with said slots.

References Cited in the file of this patent 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS20,956 141,750 Becher Aug. 12, 1873 810,761 475,056 Hall May 17, 1892862,760

6 Taubert Oct. 8, 1901 Jackoboice June 30, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS SwedenJune 2, 1906 Germany Aug. 13, 1951 Great Britain Mar. 15, 1961

1. A COLLAPSIBLE BARRICADE COMPRISING A MULTIPLICITY OF PIVOTALLYCONNECTED BARS FORMING LAZY TONGS SECTIONS, MEANS PIVOTING ONE OF SAIDSECTIONS TO AN ADJACENT SECTION TO FORM A DESIRED ANGLE THEREBETWEEN,AND GROUND ENGAGING SUPPORTS FOR EACH OF SAID SECTIONS SPACED FROM THEPIVOTING MEANS, SAID PIVOTING MEANS HAVING FORMED THEREWITH A LEGSECTION WHICH IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE GROUND ENGAGING SUPPORTS, IN THEEXTENDED CONDITION OF THE BARRICADE, MAINTAINS THE BARRICADE IN POSITIONIN DESIRED ANGULAR RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE SECTIONS, THE LOWER END OFTHE LEG SECTION TERMINATING SHORT OF A LINE JOINING THE LOWER ENDS OFTHE GROUND ENGAGING SUPPORTS IN THE COLLAPSED CONDITION OF THE LAZYTONGS.